Carl Craig

In years to come, techno will be pored over and historicised. It might have given rise to a new movement, like jazz to funk or blues to rock, traceable to its very last bleep and beat. It may have no place in pop culture, only academia, and where there were clubs there could be conventions. Whatever the fate of the brave new world's music, a handful of names will have been immortalised through it. Carl Craig's is one. Carl wanted to be a DJ from the age of ten, inspired, like all Detroit techno artist, by the radio jock Electrifyin' Mojo. His parents discouraged him, preferring to push him towards his studies, but he retaliated with a careerist, serious attitude that almost forced them to foster his interest. By the age of twenty he had served a production apprenticeship with Derrick May, releasing under the names Psyche and BFC on Transmat, and begun his own record label, Planet-e. In years to come, he - as Innerzone Orchestra - would produce 'Bug in a Bassbin', the track Roni Size credits as starting drum n bass, and become a fully-fledged album artist with a number of well-received projects. And just as in childhood, a professional approach is always to the fore. He chooses projects with care and consideration and is as likely to look back as forwards (Carl has worked with 'greats' like Bill Laswell, Herbie Hancock, Marcus Belgrave, Geri Allan, Regina Carter and Rodney Whittaker, and helped forge the careers of Recloose and Kenny Dixon Jnr. among others). As a testament to his centrality to Detroit's music, he was chosen as the creative director of the inaugural Detroit Electronic Music Festival in 2000 and, in the midst of a legal struggle at being removed a year later, unanimously supported by Detroit's artist and citizens. At 2004's DEMF, he was commemorated by Detroit for his services to the city. 'Fabric 25' exemplifies why Carl Craig is also regarded all over the world as a firing DJ. It's a mix only he could make; a thunderous blend of wide-eyed house and techno decorated with live studio effects and spontaneous, giddy vocals. As with everything this peerless electronic musician does, it is loud, proud and entirely individual.